Name:                __________________________________________

EMAIL Address: __________________________________________

Street Address: __________________________________________

City, State, ZIP: __________________________________________

Home Phone: _______________________________________

Work Phone: _______________________________________

1. How did you hear about Ecumenical Refugee and Immigration Services (ERIS)?

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2. What do you hope to gain from your volunteer service at ERIS?

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3. Briefly describe your employment experience:

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4. Briefly describe your volunteer experience:

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5. Briefly describe your education:

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6. Have you ever been convicted of a felony?

                If yes, please explain:

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7. Please list the names and phone numbers of 3 personal references:

1. Name: __________________________________

Phone: __________________________________

2. Name: __________________________________

Phone: __________________________________

3. Name: __________________________________

Phone: __________________________________

 

Signature: _____________________________ Date: ______________

 

Volunteer Interest Checklist

Name: ______________________________

Phone contacts: AM: __________________________________

PM: _________________________

(Note: This interest sheet will be distributed to ERIS employees, with the understanding that it is OK to call you when the need for volunteer help in one of the following areas occurs. In most cases, the Volunteer Coordinator will call you, but in some cases you may get a call directly from a sponsor or ERIS staff member.)

Hours Usually Available:

                     6A 7 8 9 10 11 12N 1P 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10P

Saturday: ======================================

Sunday: =======================================

Monday: ======================================

Tuesday: =======================================

Wednesday: ======================================

Thursday: ======================================

Friday: ======================================

Other: ______________________________________________

 

1. Date you are available to start any volunteer work: _____________

2. Do you have a car available for use while you are volunteering?

3. In which areas of Metro Denver are you willing to travel to help a refugee?





4. Please list any hobbies or skills that you can share with a refugee family or with the agency:

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5. Please list any la nguages you speak (other than English) and your fluency: 

Office Help

There are occasional opportunities to help out in the ERS office. If you are interested in simple data entry, stuffing envelopes, filing, organization, or other light duty clerical tasks, let us know. This is especially helpful during the holidays when we send out lots of mailings.

Answer phones in our busy office when other staff is not available. Schedule and opportunities vary with the seasons, and are often adjustable.

This is a wonderful opportunity to meet a refugee family, and help them learn how to live in the United States. Working with the families’ Case Workers, you’ll learn the areas of greatest need (for example, practicing English, learning how to shop, figuring out what’s what at the grocery store, how to get around on the bus, helping to determine junk mail from important mail and much, much, more). Even more importantly, you can become one of their first friends in the United States, and learn about a new culture while you are at it.

Commitment time: 1 or more hours per week, for 3 months or more. Please Note: We have a supplemental training session and questionnaire to help train the volunteer more thoroughly in this area.

Refugees coming to this country with nothing are in great need of many things we take for granted. Hygiene products, linens, glassware, dishes, cookware, phones, calendars, and clocks are all things that refugees need. You can help by working with the Volunteer Coordinator to help coordinate the effort to collect and deliver some of these items to the refugee families — particularly those that are in short supply. This is a great volunteer opportunity if you work at a large company and have access to lots of friends or co=workers who may have just what we need sitting unused in their basements.

Working with the case manager, and from a recommended list and provided allowance, shop for the basics to stock a new family’s kitchen. Visit the apartment before arrival, and use your well-honed shopping and stocking skills to help get this new family through the first few days without having to immediately make a trip to a strange, often-overwhelming grocery store.

This task goes very well with Grocery Shopping. Again, working with the new families’ Case Manager, arrange to visit their apartment before arrival, and set up house. Using the donated goods the Case Worker brings, you will stock drawers and cupboards, linen closets, make beds, and create an extra inviting space after their long, arduous journey.

ERS receives many donations to help refugees furnish their new homes. We need people to help catalogue and organize our storage shed. Help keep track of inventory and let us know when we get low on certain items. Help sort items like sheets, towels, dishes, etc. into packages for new families. Help organize toys by appropriate age group. All our refugee families benefit from the furniture and household items we keep in storage. It is very important we keep it organized.

If you have a truck, or are just willing to lend some muscle, we often need help moving furniture into refugee’s home, or from a pickup location to the storage sheds.

There are often odd jobs available to assist the Volunteer Coordinator. If you are interested in things like helping out at volunteer recruitment events, mailing out packets, following up with new applicants, etc., we’d love to hear from you. This is particularly helpful if you have experience in other ERS volunteer areas that you can share with the applicants.

There are always new volunteer opportunities that come up with short notice. You may have our own idea as well — perhaps a wonderful idea we’ve never thought about! Please add other possible volunteer opportunities or ideas that you are interested in at the space below.

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I, _______________________________ , as a volunteer for Ecumenical Refugee and Immigration Services, Inc., understand that any information obtained as a result of my activities with a refugee is confidential and should not be disclosed without written permission from that refugee. Violation of this confidence is illegal and could be damaging to the refugee involved.

Signature: __________________________ Date: _______________

Phone: ________________________________

• I understand that I do not have to agree to this background check, but that refusal to do so may exclude me from consideration for some types of volunteer work.

• I authorize the investigation of any or all statements I have made or written in the volunteer application process. I also authorize, whether listed or not, any person, school, current employer, past employers and organizations to provide relevant information and opinions that may be useful in making a volunteer placement decision. I release such persons and organizations from any legal liability in making such statements.

• I hereby extend my permission to those individuals or organizations contacted for the purpose of this background check to give their full and honest evaluation of my suitability for the described volunteer work and such other information, as they deem appropriate.

• I understand that I will be a volunteer, not an employee, and subsequent volunteer work does not create a contract or guarantee a placement for any definite period of time. If assigned as a volunteer, I understand that I may leave at any time and Ecumenical Refugee Services, Inc. may end our relationship at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice.

ERS requires all volunteers who will be working closely with our refugee or asylee families to clear a Colorado Bureau of Investigation Records Check. Please include a printed copy of the record check results with your application packets. There are two ways to have this record check performed. The easiest and least expensive is online. Read on for details.

When you get your record check online from the CBI, you can print it immediately and/or have the results mailed to your email account. The fee is $6.85 per record checked and takes just a few minutes. You must have a Visa or MasterCard to do this on-line. Here are instructions:

1. Go to www.cbirecordscheck.com
2. Click on the "Conduct an individual inquiry without setting up an account" option
3. Fill out the required information. Using your Social Security Number is the best way to avoid duplicate records returned, and thus additional fees. The second page asks for billing and credit card information.
4. Submit your request. You will have a printable response and an email within minutes. Include a copy of either the response of your returned email with your ERS Volunteer Application.